There has been known an optical disc device for reproducing information recorded in an optical disc such as a CD (compact disc) or a DVD (digital versatile disc), or an optical disc device for recording/reproducing information in and from an optical disc. In the optical disc devices as described above, an optical disc housed in the housing section is rotated by a driving unit such as a spindle motor provided in the housing section, a light spot is irradiated onto an information recording surface of the rotating optical disc from an optical pick-up, and information is recorded and/or reproduced by detecting reflected light.
As the optical disc devices as described above, there have been the loading type of optical disc devices having the structure in which an optical disc is placed in a concave section on a disc tray as a housing section and this disc tray is loaded to house the optical disc inside the casing, and the cover open/close type of optical disc devices in which the housing section is covered with a cover section and an optical disc is housed inside the casing by opening or closing this cover section. Of these two types, in the cover open/close type of optical disc device, when the cover section is opened during rotation of the optical disc, sometimes the rotating optical disc springs out from the housing section, causing the optical disc to be broken, or rotation of the optical disc is forcefully stopped by a user, causing a circuit provided inside the optical disc device to be broken.
To solve the problem as described above, there has been known an optical disc device in which rotation of the optical disc is automatically stopped when the cover section is opened during rotation of the optical disc. Among such type of optical disc devices, there has been known the one in which, when the cover section (cover) is opened, a lever is moved via a gear provided on the cover section and via a gear provided in the optical disc device (disc reproduction unit), the movement of the lever causing a brake arm to contact with an outer peripheral edge face of the optical disc for braking rotation of the optical disc (see, for instance, Patent Document 1). Also, there has been known an optical disc device in which, when the cover section (upper cover) is opened, a brake lever slides forward and backward, causing a brake pad to be pressed to an edge face of the optical disc for braking rotation of the optical disc (see, for instance, Patent Document 2). In the optical disc devices having the structures as described above, even when the cover section is opened during rotation of the optical disc, rotation of the optical disc is braked, so that damages of the disc or the circuit can be prevented.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 2-126471
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 10-79162